Sales representatives on the front line directly impact company image, brand building, product promotion, and performance improvement. Their speech, communication, thinking, concepts, time management, diligence, honesty, credibility, and interpersonal style all influence business growth. Often, a single sentence from a salesperson can cause a customer to sever ties with the company for life, even spreading negative information about the company to friends indefinitely. This negative information is like a "black hole," expanding until it becomes an unmanageable situation. The "Waterloo" of Sanlu Milk Powder, Shuanghui, and Guanshengyuan reminds us of this. The root cause is often the havoc wreaked by our grassroots salespeople when facing public relations crises, difficult consumers, or clients. On a small scale, salespeople lose performance, miss promotions, and forfeit advancement opportunities; on a large scale, they can ruin the company's future. So what should our salespeople do to avoid these situations and, more importantly, achieve comprehensive improvement in performance? I believe salespeople must start from the following aspects.
Two Essentials are the foundation, the key to success or failure in performance. Only by mastering these two essentials can one achieve performance dominance.
The first essential is mastering product knowledge. We all say that the most basic thing in sales is to know product knowledge thoroughly, but the key point is "mastery," not just knowledge. Many salespeople know product knowledge but cannot master it. So how can we achieve thorough familiarity? First, master what our product is made of. Second, master the applications of our product. Master the core value our product provides to consumers. Third, understand the problems that may arise during the entire application process. Fourth, understand the advantages of our product compared to competitors in the same industry. Is it quality competition, cost-performance competition, price competition, or other? It must be very clear, not vague.
The second essential is mastering customers. Mastering customers is a difficult aspect, but many salespeople have insufficient understanding at this level, usually staying at surface-level knowledge, such as the terminal owner's surname and location. Deeper understanding is often lacking. Customers need to be mastered, not just known. First, you need to understand where your customers are. Second, what are your customers' main products? What is the purpose of their main products? Why do they do it this way? Third, what is the customer's network like? Fourth, what products do customers like? Fifth, what is the customer's business philosophy? Sixth, what is the customer's credibility? Seventh, what is the customer's distribution capability? What is the customer's service awareness? Eighth, what is the customer's financial strength? Ninth, what does the customer like to do for fun? Each of these points is not simple to understand clearly; some may be difficult to fully grasp from start to finish. Only by mastering customers can you better control, manage, develop products, and communicate market policies.
Super Execution in Nine Steps: Once you are familiar with customers and products, what must we do when visiting customers to ensure no regrets throughout the process?
Preparation before the visit: Preparation is the most important step before visiting customers. It mainly includes: First, tool preparation: samples, materials, contracts, promotional items, and other necessary documents. Second, market policy: What purpose do we want to achieve with this customer? What market policy should be adopted? If things go smoothly, what is the highest plan? What is the reasonable plan? What is the fallback plan? What is the contingency plan? Many times, salespeople fail to close deals because they are single-minded, always having a "unique" plan when visiting customers, leading to situations where they need to ask for instructions or cannot solve problems during negotiations, causing customers to doubt the negotiator's identity, status, and decision-making power, and the negotiation ends in doubt. Third, personal appearance: The sales team is the eyes of the product in the terminal market and the window through which the company is recognized. Therefore, the salesperson's self-presentation is crucial.
Greeting the customer upon entering: The first sentence when entering a customer's premises also needs careful planning. Of course, when entering, you need the ability to read the "environment": the opponent's mood, facial expression, store atmosphere, etc. "Boss, business is booming! I've come to see you again! Any good news lately? The food additive inspection storm seems serious, but from what I've seen in the market these past few days, most places have recovered, and business has increased a lot compared to before." "Boss, I'm from so-and-so company. This is our product." Immediately take out the product for an information bombardment. The effects of the two situations are self-evident. The former has a relaxed topic and provides the customer with the latest information, eliminating their concerns. The latter does not know the customer's needs or worries at all. But often, these aspects are forgotten!
Product display in the store: When entering a store, salespeople must first do a good job of product display. Especially, every salesperson must carry a towel. When they find their product, they must wipe it clean and place it in the most prominent position. What are the main products? How should each single item be displayed? How many packs should be displayed to attract the most consumer attention? How should strategic products be displayed? Where should low-priced products be placed? How should core products build the brand? How should competitive products form a competitive stance with clear advantages? The competition between Pepsi and Coca-Cola in the same mall is most evident in product display. Good display indeed creates a good story for the brand promotion of the company's products.
Customer and competitor investigation: As the ancients said, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated." When at a customer's store, understanding competitors is essential. What are the competitor's prices? What are the competitor's market operation policies? What are the competitor's distribution policies? What is the quality of the competitor's products? What is the customer's attitude towards competitors? How is the competitor's display? Can it pose a threat to our brand? How should we communicate with the customer? All this must be known thoroughly to make competitors uncompetitive in our market and with our customers.
Customer inventory check and date verification: Checking inventory is an important part of a salesperson's market visits. What goods does the distributor still have? How many of each single item? What are the production dates? Are there any expired products? Is there cross-regional selling? Which items are out of stock? Which have large inventory? The speed of product movement and the degree of slow sales directly affect the manager's overall market planning. Why hasn't a single item sold well? Is the slow sales caused by the distributor or the market? How to handle slow-moving products: return them to the factory or transfer them to nearby markets? This is also crucial for making plans (and achieving performance).
Placing orders for customers, using planned scripts to make customers thank you for the order: When placing orders, our salespeople are not just order takers. Orders are placed after careful consideration, not just based on the customer's package and plan records. These are completely different things. One is proactive, the other is reactive. At the same time, order placement techniques should be used to achieve the desired effect. It is not easy to put pressure on the merchant while also giving them confidence and making them grateful. I remember one of my salespeople. When walking the market with him, I often heard him say a few things. When a customer urgently needed goods, he would always say, "Sorry, this product has sold out quickly these days, and we're out of stock." The customer would panic and say, "What should I do? I haven't had stock for days." The salesperson would say, "I can't help it either. That product might arrive in about two days. When it arrives, I'll send yours first and try to get it to you as soon as possible. Remember to order at least a week in advance next time." The customer would say, "Thank you, thank you!" The salesperson would then say, "I have another product that's also good. Take a look at the sample. It's excellent in certain aspects. How about I bring you one? The profit is yours; if it doesn't sell, it's mine. You can return it to me later." The customer would say, "Alright, bring me one to try." This is the skill of order placement. In reality, this salesperson's warehouse was already overstocked, but why was he so calm in front of the customer? The charm of sales skills works wonders.
Farewell to the customer: When leaving, don't forget to say goodbye to the customer. Ask if there is anything else you can help with, to ensure nothing is missed. Wish them prosperity in business! Simple blessings will give your customer a comprehensive impression of your quality, moral cultivation, image, temperament, and behavior.
Customer return prediction and method: After all visits are completed, you should also plan the return process. What items did the customer order in total? Which items will sell out in a short period? When will they likely order again? Based on inventory and order plans, make corresponding strategies for market distribution and the next return. At the same time, if you cannot return in the short term, make records for phone or SMS follow-ups to keep our customers firmly in our hands.
Through the spiritual understanding and execution of the Two Essentials and Eight Steps, I believe our performance, product brand, and company image will be greatly improved. Our performance will be more brilliant, our wallets will be fuller, our promotion pace will be faster, and our careers will be more prosperous.
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